My Bendy BFF
by SpyHunter29
Summary: WOOHP has been annexed by another defense organization, Alex discovers a hot and talented new boyfriend, and all in all the spies are thrown into a world that may be too much for them to handle. Alex x OC
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

May 29th, 2004

Spies' Villa, Beverly Hills

It was one of the most beautiful days that anyone living in Beverly Hills could ask for. The summer heat waves that plagued the Los Angeles area during the summer were still a ways off, and so were the periodic rains that rolled off and on over Death Valley on their way westward towards the Pacific Ocean. All this good news was being presented on the weather forecast of a morning news broadcast on television. One of the many people in the Los Angeles area who was tuned into this broadcast was, in fact, a teenage girl.

Samantha Simpson was a girl in her late teens, with green eyes and long, straight orange hair. She considered herself to be very intelligent, even when compared to her two best friends, Clover and Alex – although this did not make her think any less of them. In fact, she was looking for something for them to do together in order to take advantage of the Memorial Day holiday, but to no avail. Exasperated, she fell back along the couch, letting her arms fall above her head.

Just then, she heard the muffled thumps of someone coming down the stairs. It was her friend, Clover Ewing, who came over to Sam and greeted her with and energetic, "Good mooorning, Sammy!"

Overwhelmed by the sudden sight of her friend's face, with its blue eyes and medium-length blonde hair, Sam only managed to respond with a tired groan.

Taking offense, Clover got out of Sam's face but scoffed and said, "Geez, like, what's eating you, Sam?"

"Aah, it's a three-day weekend and there's nothing to do!"

"Well, that's why you've got me!"

"And me!" Clover and Sam turned their attention to the peppy voice coming from the stairs. That voice belonged to their other friend, Alex Vasquez. Her short black hair bobbed along with her as she traipsed down the stairs, and her brown eyes met her friends' gazes.

Clover nodded and reassured Sam, "Cha, like, three heads are better than one, Sam!"

"You're right, Clover. Perhaps we'll think of something after breakfast."

Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica

It took half a morning's worth of thinking and planning, but the three friends eventually decided to eschew their usual hangouts and spend the day in the Santa Monica area. After hitting the Santa Monica Pier, with its ever-popular amusement park, they took a stroll down Ocean Avenue, looking for a place to eat lunch. By the time they sat down at an outdoor table of a café, Sam had become completely rejuvenated and was buzzing with her friends over what shops they would tackle first. Alex, however, had other plans. "Hey, I saw someone setting up for something at a park nearby there," she said, gesturing towards the general direction of the park she was talking about. "Did you guys see what was going on there?"

Both Sam and Clover shook their heads. Thinking out loud, Alex added, "Maybe a concert or something?"

"Yeah, who knows?" Clover contributed. A squeak of excitement escaped her as she explained, "It could be someone really cute playing, too!"

Sam thought for a minute before suggesting, "Just as well. I can't decide what I want from here! And between you and me, this place is a little high-end for my budget. And I'm not even hungry, so let's go!"

The girls hurried over to the park, only to discover a crowd growing where the performance was set up. From brief glimpses in between all the people, they could not see any stereo equipment, so they deduced that it was not, in fact, a musical performance. Stumped, they decided to simply climb on top of each other's shoulders. Sam knelt down and let Alex climb up on top of her. "Can you see anything, Alex?" she asked.

"I don't know, Sam, take me up higher!"

"I'll try." Securing Alex's feet with her hands, Sam slowly pushed herself up to a standing position. Once she was finally up all the way, Alex took one good look past the crowd – and couldn't believe her eyes. Everyone's attention was focused on a contortionist, and by her standards, a real cute one at that! His bright blonde hair remained neatly parted to the sides of his face as he pulled off his stunts, such as bending over backwards until laying his head and chest in between his legs, with apparent ease. He was dressed only in khaki shorts and sneakers, allowing his audience to have a better look at the twists his body made. From time to time gasps would escape the audience as they saw the shape of his rib cage starting to protrude during some of his more intense back-bends, but all the while he never broke a sweat.

Bearing witness to such a combination of talent and beauty, Alex was rendered completely speechless. She was snapped back to earth, however, when Clover called out from below her. "So what is it, Alex, what's going on?"

"…? Oh, it's some contortionist guy. And he's so dreamy-yaa!" Alex swooned and, as a result, lost her balance, only to be caught by Clover. Meanwhile, Sam was pulled back from the force of her falling friend and landed on her backside.

"So…" said Sam, groaning slightly as she got up, "Is this something we should try to take a closer look at?"

Alex's answer was automatic, her thoughts centered on the young man. "Only, like, _totally_!" Brimming with the anticipation of seeing some more of him, she led her friends through the crowd until they were at the front row. Unfortunately, they turned up next to their least favorite person whom they met on a regular basis. Mandy Delaroyale – a girl, with sleek black hair, who went to the same school as Clover, Sam, and Alex. "Ca-_lover_?" she scoffed in her usual snobbish voice. "What are you doing wasting your time watching this fa-_reak_?"

Sam stepped in before Alex could think of any sort of comeback. "Uh, Mandy, ever thought of raining on someone _else's_ parade for a change? Besides, why are you here in Santa Monica anyway?"

"If you _must_ know, Sam, I have a date, unlike you losers!"

Acting unimpressed, Sam crossed her arms and asked, "Oh! Well, you wouldn't be so kind as to point him out for me, huh?"

"For your information, he's over there." Mandy pointed to someone a few spots over to her left. Sam couldn't discern who exactly Mandy was pointing to, so she simply nodded.

Then Alex stepped in and taunted, "So, I guess the joke's on you now, Mandy!"

"Pfft, what are you talking about? In case you weren't following, _I_ have a date and _you_ don't!"

"What-_ever_. I guess you don't care that I've got my sights set on someone way cuter, especially if you think he's a freak!"

"Well, good luck on your date, Mandy," Clover added sarcastically. Mandy merely turned her nose up at her and left, pulling her boyfriend _du jour_ out of the crowd on her way.

Now that Mandy was finally out of the way, Alex and her friends could finally enjoy the act in peace. She left just in time, too – the contortionist was just about to start his finale. He dismounted from the handstand he had been holding for the last minute and then got out a cardboard box, smaller than one yard along each side. Then, against what anyone watching thought was possible, he started to squeeze himself into the box. He started with one leg, and then bent his body forward to fit it inside the box before sliding it in and finishing by pulling his other leg in. When he gave a final flourish of his hands and closed the box's flaps, the crowd burst into applause and Alex was on the verge of swooning again.

After a few moments, the applause subsided and the contortionist got out of the box slowly, to let his audience savor his finale. When he was done, he was greeted by even more raucous cheering. Trying to calm everyone down, he put his hands up and said, "Thank you, thank you. If you'd just give me a moment, I'd like to tell you something. For the next few weeks, I will be holding contortion classes. My assistant will now hand out some flyers detailing when and where they will be held."

The assistant who wordlessly distributed the flyers to some of the crowd seemed oddly creepy to Sam in particular. She had long black hair, narrow green eyes, and a voluptuous figure. Despite her suspicions, Sam took three flyers for herself and each of her friends. Alex rejected her flyer, instead explaining, "Can't right now, Sam. There's a certain hottie who's wrapped up his act and I've just _got_ to learn more about him while I've got the chance!"

Approaching the contortionist and taking him away from the crowd so they could hear each other, Alex muttered to herself, "Omigosh, what do I say, what do I say…" As he slipped on a tank top and a white shirt, she regained her composure and told him, "Umm… Hi, my name's Alex and I, like, really enjoyed your performance." After a moment of awkward silence, she nervously added, "Please, I'm not always a total spazz!"

The contortionist held up his hand to try and calm Alex down. "Not at all, mademoiselle. My name is Claude and you're pretty cute yourself." His French accent was tempered down, as if he had actually spent most of his life in America. "You have a question to ask about those classes I'm giving?"

"No, it's just a huge pleasure to meet you… Claude. I'll see you soon!" Alex said with a wink before going back to her friends. Without a moment's hesitation, Sam handed her one of the flyers. Alex read it as she told her friends who Claude was. Of course, her description was limited to just, "He was totally awesome."

Without looking up from the flyer, Clover nodded and suggested, "So why not give this course a try? I mean, I think it'd be kinda cool to learn to bend like that. And it should be no sweat for us, what all our experience with…" She stopped herself because she was about to mention something very critical that could she could not run the risk of being picked up by a passing ear, so she continued, "…our earlier yoga classes." This was also the truth.

On the other hand, Sam's attention remained elsewhere. "There's just something about his assistant though, she's just so… creepy… Say, Alex, maybe you could ask Claude who she is!"

"Okay, but I'm just saying, couldn't you ask her yourself?"

This suggestion caught Sam off guard. "Oh, well… A) I didn't think of that, and B) if she's bad, I don't want her to remember my face."

"Oh, when you put it that way… One moment, please." With that, Alex went off to ask Claude about her. Neither Sam nor Clover could pick up on the conversation, given the ambient noise, but Alex returned in no time and told her friends, "He said her name's Morgana."

"Morgana, Morgana… Well, she's no one I know. But if we're going to those classes, I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more of her."

"What-ever, with a guy like Claude, it'd totally be worth going to!"

"When you put it that way… What the hey!" This put both her friends in a terrific mood as they left the park and found a new place to eat lunch at. Afterwards, they aimlessly strolled around Ocean Avenue until their attention diverted to a young couple coming out of a photo booth. "Hey, you guys wanna take a picture together?" asked Clover.

"Only if it's with Claude. Call me a broken record, but you _so_ have to meet him!"

"I'm pretty sure he's packed up and left by now, Alex," Sam explained.

"Killjoy… Alright, I'll do it with you two." With that, the three friends crowded themselves in the photo booth and arranged themselves for the picture. But once they closed the curtain, instead of the machine taking their picture, the floor of the booth opened beneath them, dropping the girls down a long, sloping tunnel.

They had been, as they like to call it, 'WOOHPed'.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

WOOHP Headquarters, Beneath Los Angeles

There was something peculiar about Sam, Clover, and Alex. It was something so dangerous to have known by the wrong person that they all tried their hardest to avoid spilling the information (Alex had almost let word of it slip previously that very morning). They were, in fact, agents of the World Organization of Helping People, commonly abbreviated as WOOHP.

The spies were now hurtling at breakneck speeds through a series of tunnels that would soon take them to the office of their boss, Jerry Lewis. A British man in his 60s, Jerry has given the spies their missions ever since they joined WOOHP a couple of years before. Through all the contact they've had with each other, he was seen as a sort of father to the girls.

His office, in an undisclosed location under the surface of Los Angeles, had the letters 'WOOHP' sculpted on the far wall. The second 'O' opened down to the ground, revealing a couch-like mat and the opening of a tunnel. Within moments of the tunnel opening, the three spies shot out of the exit and landed on the round couch. After extricating themselves from the dogpile their bodies formed upon landing, they sat on the edge of the couch and looked around Jerry's office.

Something was not right about the state of his office, however. The giant computer display behind his desk was gone, and numerous boxes were piled up along the left side of the room. Sam was about to ask what was going on, but before she could open her mouth, Jerry's revolving chair swiveled around to face them. But it was not Jerry who would answer her question.

The man now in Jerry's seat was an African-American man, not nearly as old as Jerry but not too old either. Like Jerry, however, his long head was almost completely bald – or just shaved, the girls weren't quite sure. Allaying their worries, the man told them, "Welcome, spies. I understand your fear and uncertainty, but you have no need to fear. Trust me when I say that you and the rest of WOOHP are in good hands. But you don't need to take my word for it." He motioned his hand over to the boxes blocking part of the left-hand entrance, and who should come into the room, but Jerry himself.

Jerry immediately greeted and waved to the spies, then instantly went to explaining the current situation. "Good day, girls. Now, you're obviously curious about our current situation­–"

"No duh," interjected Clover.

"–But there's something else you should know, so I shall start at the beginning of it all. We – by which I mean our organization, WOOHP – have just recently been annexed by the Delta Defense Alliance."

"And just what is the Delta Defense Alliance, exactly?" the other man asked hypothetically. "Well, in all honesty, we serve a purpose similar to WOOHP. The DDA is a place where all the major powers of the world contribute intelligence that can be used to prevent danger and preserve peace for the whole world. We've just been doing it for longer – we were set up in the years after World War II – and on a larger scale. And, by the way, I am the top man of the DDA. You are to address me as Director 3. That goes for you too, Jerry. Everyone, is that clear?"

The girls merely nodded, but Jerry had a question for Director 3. "If you'd pardon me asking, can you tell us what the '3' means? Or is it another classified part of your secret identity?" It was clear that he was having a little fun asking this.

"As a matter of fact, Jerry and everyone, I am the third person to hold my position since the DDA was founded. I assumed the post only a couple of years ago, actually.

"So let's back up for a while and explain why we came and annexed WOOHP in the first place. There's something we at the DDA have been dealing with for years; in fact, it's part of the reason we were created. You'll have to believe me when I say this, but we are fighting a war… against psychics."

At this point, Director 3 expected one of two things to happen. Either the spies would be speechless, or they would be abuzz with statements of disbelief. The former happened first, for only a moment or two, before the silence broke down. Alex laughed and laughed, while Clover jested, "So what, like, fortune tellers are taking over the world nowadays?"

Equally shocked, Sam asked, "Whoa, whoa, psychics are real? What kinds of stuff can they do, anyway?"

Director 3 interlocked his hands underneath his chin and answered, "More than you could imagine, Sam, and more than I could explain in detail. Basically, when they said 'you can do anything you set your mind to', with psychics, they mean it literally. We're talking using only one's mind to move objects, control the elements, teleport, and yes, Clover, a little bit or fortune telling, too. Now, granted, there are very, very few psychics in the population of the world, and a huge majority of them are just regular people, only gifted. But once a psychic goes bad, he or she becomes pretty much the most dangerous adversary you could ever face.

"In fact, there's this one body of psychic terrorists founded shortly after the end of World War II, the Omega Order. In fact, the Order is part of the reason why the DDA was created. They believe in eliminating all non-psychics, or mortals as they call us, in order to become the pre-dominant… race, if you can call them that. Even though the Order has been quiet for quite some time, its leader, Morgana Rubanenko, is still at large. Here to inform you all of her identity is one of our top agents, mister James Langley."

The next person to enter Jerry's office was a younger man, in his mid-twenties. He had a shaggy mop of brown hair and, as the girls noticed immediately, was quite handsome. "Good day, ladies," he spoke to them. "I am Jake Langley, and… I read your dossiers but I'm having a little trouble, see, I'm getting you all mixed up now. Care to introduce yourselves, one at a time?"

"I'm Sam…"

"…Clover…"

"..And Alex, the luckiest girl in Beverly Hills! I mean, I just met two totally hot guys in a row! You, and that contortionist guy up at–"

"You wouldn't happen to be talking about Claude Duchamp, would you?"

"Claude? Oh, yeah, that was him."

"Right. See, we're… real close. That's all I can say. And it's not what you think. But enough about that. Delta needs your help in monitoring Morgana Rubanenko. We have confirmation that she is currently in the Los Angeles area. And based on where we… extracted you from, I have a feeling you might have seen her already."

Jake tapped around a bit on a tablet computer he was holding, and then handed it to the girls. The computer showed photographs of a young woman with long black hair and a seemingly sweet, yet commanding, expression on her face. Sam gasped when she realized who this woman was. "You're right, I have seen her… Alex, you're not going to like this, but…"

Alex understood what Sam was going to say before she finished her thought. "Yeah, she was with Claude… I can't believe it, so cute and now he's our enemy…"

Tears started to form in the corners of Alex eyes. Sensing her oncoming depression, Jake put a hand on her shoulder and told her, "Now, now, just because you saw them together doesn't necessarily mean he's with them. Yes, it's likely, but for all we know, maybe he's just using her for our cause!

"So, anyway…" Jake clapped his hands together as he gathered his thoughts. "Your mission is to observe Morgana – and this has to do with Claude, so you'll be seeing more of him Alex, don't worry. First of all, when you first met him, did you hear about the contortion classes he's holding over the next few weeks?"

Sam fielded the answer promptly. "Yes. In fact, we got flyers for it – handed to us by none other than Morgana herself."

"Really… well, then I guess you'll be seeing more of her, too! Which is good, for the mission, I mean."

Director 3 took over in explaining the details of the mission. "Should you accept this mission, we will sign you up for that class of his. If Morgana is present at the meetings, you are to spy on her. Learn if she's planning anything with the Omega Order, and what her relationship with Claude is, if there is anything going on between them. Otherwise, question Claude and find out everything he knows about her. If he doesn't know who exactly she is, the least you can do is inform him of the bad news."

"Actually, he and Morgana have met in the past," Jake interjected. "Before she went evil. But I don't think they've seen each other since. As a matter of fact, I don't see him often anymore either.

"Now, before you accept this mission, I should let you know something. Contortion is not exactly for the faint of heart, I'm sure you could guess. You try to bite off more than you could chew, and you could pull a muscle or something and remain out of commission for weeks. That said, you're not going to have to practice it at nearly the level Claude's at – he's really good, you've seen him, right? – and he'll show you all the proper stretching techniques to ease you into the harder moves. So, you think you're up to the challenge? And I want to hear from all three of you."

Despite having taken a blow to her confidence, Alex was the first answer, telling Jake, "Okay, I'll do it. I am _not_ giving up on Claude."

"Very well, but we're not giving you this mission just so you can get back with him. I expect you to carry it out professionally, is that clear?"

This order seemed to snap Alex back into the real world. "Yes, Jake, I can," she answered seriously.

"I'm in," Sam agreed. "Looks like my instincts are right about that Morgana girl. So Alex, are _you_ in or out?"

After taking just a moment to consider, Clover answered, "Sure, I'll do it! Like, call me crazy, but contortion sounds like a lot of fun!"

"And I'm sure it will be, for all of you!" encouraged Jake.

Sam raised her hand to interrupt him. "Excuse me, but what about gadgets?" To Director 3, she explained, "Jerry always gives us gadgets before he sends us out on our missions, so I was wondering what we'd be getting. I mean, what could you give us that would help us in a contortion class?" she added with sarcasm.

Assuming the question was directed at him, Jerry answered first. "It's not that you should be worried about. But the selection we do have for you has been tailored largely towards infiltration." He opened a briefcase and pointed out different objects, each in sets of three. "Here are your Laser Lipsticks, Just-Sticky-Enough Gloves, Multi-Function Charm Bracelets, and this…" He picked up a small case in the shape of two connected circles and flipped it open. "These are the Anti-Hypnosis Contact Lenses, something new we've developed with the help of Delta. They will block out the suggestive frequencies accompanying any psychic-based hypnosis signal."

"These will certainly be of great help for you," Director 3 added, "but you must always bear in mind that it is incredibly dangerous to fight a psychic, for reasons we've already mentioned. Therefore, whenever possible, do not engage any psychics."

"Yuh-huh," added Jake. "Leave that to the professionals."

"And you wouldn't happen to be said professional, would you?" Sam asked him.

"Yes, Sam. As a matter of fact, I am licensed to kill, on a mission-to-mission basis as assigned by Director 3. But for this mission, I'm strictly here for clean-up. If you three find out that Morgana's up to something serious, I'm the one you need to call. Oh, and Director 3 or Jerry."

Standing up, Sam responded, "Will do, Jake." She held his hand and softly added, "And speaking of clean-up, what do you say we get together after the mission and go somewhere for­–"

Holding up his free hand, Jake kindly objected, "Thanks, but I'm too old for you."

"And how old would that be? Or is that classified­–"

"Twenty-five."

"Meh, that's okay. Other fish in the sea, right?" Sighing, Sam came over to Jerry, followed by Clover and Alex, and together they picked up their gadgets from Jerry. All that was left for Sam was to ask, "Anything else, Jerry? Director?"

"No, spies," Director 3 answered. "You are dismissed. It was a pleasure to meet you all. Best of luck in everything."

Getting up from his seat, Jerry went over behind his desk to quietly ask Director 3, "Pardon me, but shall I let out our guests?" Director 3 nodded, and Jerry pushed a button on the underside of his desk. Immediately, a trapdoor opened underneath the spies, dropping them back into the series of tunnels from whence they came.

This action seemed to have left a bad impression on Director 3. "Do you always have to take them out like that?"

Jerry shrugged and said, "Uh, it gets them out quicker. Time is of the essence when there's a mission to be done, am I right?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

June 2nd, 2004

Training Room, WOOHP Headquarters

For Clover, Sam, and especially Alex, their first contortion lesson, set for the next Saturday, could not come soon enough. In order to warm up more, they spent much of their free time in the training room at the WOOHP headquarters. Jake was on hand most of the time, not only giving the girls general stretching guidelines, but also serving as a sparring partner for more high-energy exercise. One day, he and Alex were in the middle of some friendly fighting. Over the last few bouts, Jake had lost repeatedly to Alex. "That's some strength you've got there," he complimented after losing one of their matches.

"I should say the same about you, Jake. When you hit, you hit hard!"

"True," he said as he got up, "but I'm the one who keeps on falling. Big things, small packages… You ready?"

"Bring it on, Jake!" Alex said with enthusiasm. Before long, they were engaged in battle again. Jake's fighting style was a bit heavy on punches and blocks, whereas Alex specialized in kicks and dodges. Not long passed before, once again, Jake found himself on the mat again. "I was serious when I said how strong you were," he mused as he got up again. "You may look lightweight, but you put so much momentum in your kicks that I can't withstand them. Use that to your advantage."

"Will do, _sensei_," she joked as she bowed in a gesture of playful respect.

Jake could not help but giggle at this display. "Right, so how about one more round before I move over to Clover?"

"He heh, that rhymes! Sure, but this time mix it up for me, okay?"

"If you think you can handle the challenge," taunted Jake. True to his word, he actually ducked under some of Alex's high kicks instead of just trying to withstand them. This gave him an opportunity to counterattack with a one-two jab combo. In order to dodge the blows, Alex leaned back into a handspring, successfully avoiding the attack. Just before landing, she instinctively spread her legs apart, one in front of the other, intending to land in a crouched position, but her feet slipped apart from one another, forcing her legs into a split. Unfortunately, she had not yet done sufficient stretching that day, so even though she immediately rolled onto her side to get out of the split, she was still in pain. She cried out as she curled her legs up into a ball to try and ease the pain, but to little avail.

Rushing to her aid, Jake put a hand on Alex's shoulder and asked, "Oh gosh, are you okay?"

"…It's actually not _that_ bad, it's just… This can't be good for my lesson on Saturday." A few tears started to form at her eyes when she thought of possibly disappointing Claude.

"Oh, you'll be fine by then. I once stretched my legs too far, training with Claude. It really wasn't a long-term problem, although after that I noticed my right leg wasn't as flexible as my left leg. Now that I think of it, I probably would've noticed it sooner… But don't worry, Alex. If you work on whatever it is that's causing you problems, you will overcome it. You can do anything that way."

June 5th, 2004

Yoga Studio, Beverly Hills

Finally, the day had arrived. The class was to be held in the mid-morning, so luckily the girls did not have long to wait before they would see Claude again. At ten minutes before 10 o'clock in the morning, they arrived at a yoga studio in Beverly Hills, within walking distance from their home. They were no strangers to this place at all. Fond memories of their previous experience here boosted their confidence, until Clover suddenly thought about a previous course they had taken there, taught by a particularly nasty instructor named Shirley. Her confidence sank as she confided this memory to her friends, but Sam cheered her up. "Aw, come on, Clover! This'll be different!"

"_Shirley_, Claude can't be that tough a teacher!" joked Alex.

This helped lift Clover's spirits a little. "You're right, Alex. I mean, I only saw a glimpse or two of him that day, with, like, that crowd and all, but he's gotta be totally cute, right?"

Alex giggled. "Oh yeah, you just wait and see, Clover!"

Before going to the lesson, they headed to the girls' locker room and changed into their exercise outfits. Sam wore a hot pink leotard with violet leggings, and had her hair tied back. Clover wore a sky-blue, short-sleeved leotard and headband with white wristbands, but no leggings. And Alex wore a yellow leotard over black leggings and a white t-shirt, along with a yellow headband and white wristbands. Sam and Alex also wore baggy socks that matched their leotards, whereas Clover's were white. Before long, they were ready to go.

Recalling the information on the flyer they reviewed earlier that morning, Sam led them to the room where the class was to be held. Just before she opened the door, an idea came to her which she immediately shared. "Wait a minute, about that Morgana girl, you think she's gonna be an assistant teacher or something?"

"That would be awful," said Alex. But as they opened the door, they discovered to their surprise that Morgana was actually one of the students taking this course! They saw her near the corner of the room, wearing a shiny green leotard over black spandex shorts. Another girl was talking with her, complimenting her on the brooch affixed to her leotard near the bottom of her neck.

"Sure, you can have a look," she offered, speaking in a Russian accent that was tempered down less so than Claude's French accent. The brooch over her chest was basically a large, round, green jewel, set in a silver rim, with the Greek letter 'psi' etched inside it.

"It's pretty," said the other girl.

"_Da_, and it's very special to me."

"But why wear it here? I mean, what if you slip up or something and break it?"

"You must not be from around Beverly Hills, are you?" Morgana joked. "Have you seen some of the jewelry people here carry on them everywhere, everyday? Seriously, if I _do_ break it, I'll take responsibility for it, don't worry."

Small floor mats were littered across the room, all facing a larger mat in the front. The girls sat on three of the mats near the front and chatted about Claude until, finally, the door to the room opened and he came in, dressed in a white tank top and red gym shorts. His entrance elicited a few squeals of excitement from among the students, Alex included, but fortunately for him he was followed closely by a bodyguard, none other than Jake. In his sunglasses Jake looked fairly imposing, but the spies new better.

Sitting on a large mat in the front of the room, Claude greeted the class. "Good morning, everyone." When he spoke, his French accent had all but disappeared. "I am Claude Duchamp, and I will be teaching this contortion class." A few students here and there snickered quietly, assuming that he lacked the proper credentials, in part because he was a boy. As if he could read their thoughts, he addressed those concerns. "I know you think I may not look it, but I've been in the circus for years and years of my… short life. Have any of you seen me perform with the Liberty Circus from Philadelphia? Anyone? We've toured around the country once or twice…"

Only one hand rose. As it turned out, it belonged to the girl who spoke with Morgana just a moment earlier. Moving on, Claude asked, "Well then, has anyone seen _any_ contortionist at _any_ circus?" A few more hands shot up in response to the question. Still not quite satisfied, he asked again, "Okay, who wants to see a demonstration?" Nearly everyone in the class raised their hands this time. "Great! Now… watch this!"

Claude sat bolt upright with his feet pointing straight at his students, then spread them apart until they formed a straight line. Next, he twisted his legs and body, turning the straddle split into a front-back split facing the wall, and bent his torso backwards tightly until his head touched his backside. Then, holding this pose, he rolled over so he was lying on his chest, and swung his other leg in front of him. For the finale, he planted his hands beside him and pushed his bended body up into the air. When he walked around on his hands to face the class, he was greeted with roaring applause.

After holding this pose for a moment, and taking another moment to get back to a normal sitting position, he resumed his lecture. "Now, honestly, I don't expect every one of you to be able to do what I just did after this course is over. Then again, maybe one or two of you can do it already, anyone?" No one raised their hands this time; everyone laughed, even Claude. "Ah, I thought not. But one of the myths of contortion is that some people are born flexible and others aren't. This is true, but with the proper stretching training, almost anyone can become a contortionist. What I'm here to do, is whatever your level of flexibility is right now, I'll work with you to improve it.

"So enough about contortion theory, let's get into the practice! We'll start with the most basic of all stretches. Everyone, I want you to sit forward like this, then lean forward and touch your toes. If you can't touch them, just go as far as you can, on the threshold of what is comfortable, alright?" Sam, Clover, and Alex were all able to touch their toes on the first try. "Everyone where they're at? Now, I want you to hold it for fifteen seconds. On my count…" The girls felt a discomfort in their hamstring muscles, as did everyone else, but it quickly subsided when the fifteen seconds were up and they relaxed their stretches.

"So how was that?" Claude asked to no one in particular. "What we're going to try to do next is take that stretch a little farther. We'll do it again, in sets of fifteen seconds, and each time I want you to bend forward a little farther. Eventually, you should be able to touch your legs with your head." He accompanied this with a demonstration of the goal. "Remember do whatever's comfortable for you, but take it a little farther each time. Ready?"

After the forward stretches, in which Alex, Sam, and Clover were all able to touch their heads to their legs, Claude instructed the class to repeat the stretch again, only with their legs spread apart. "For this exercise, ideally," he told everyone, "you should be able to rest your head on the floor. At the very least, stretch your arms out as far forward as possible. In addition, with each rep, I want you to spread out your legs to the sides more and more. As you'll discover later, this is one of the best warm-ups you can do to get into side splits. But don't worry; we won't be getting into that for a while. So, all set? Let's take it up a notch!"

Most of the class was able to do the straddle stretches with their legs at an angle of ninety degrees, or halfway to a full straddle split. With that done, Claude told the class that they had finished with the frontbending exercises for the day, and then led the class in different kinds of stretches. First they did some back-bending exercises, including one where they lied on their stomachs, and arched their backs by pushing up from the floor. Then he had the class attempt to do a backbend from a standing position and plant their hands on the floor behind their feet. This proved more difficult for some of the class, as keeping balance was troublesome for beginners.

As the ninety minutes allotted for the lesson started to wind down, Claude moved his class into warm-ups for front-back splits. To stretch the front leg, they repeated one of the frontbend stretches from earlier in the lesson, pointing only one leg forward. To stretch the back leg, they knelt with the forward leg bent and kept the back leg straight while pushing it down. However, only a handful of people were able to successfully execute splits.

Finally, 11:30 rolled around and the class was over. "Wow," Alex asked to her friends, "Wasn't that fun?" Sam and Clover nodded in unison. "You guys go ahead and meet me in the sauna. I have to go set up a date with Claude. You know… _for the mission_," she added dropping her voice. Once they left, Alex scanned around the room for Morgana – who, thankfully, had gone as well – and immediately proceeded towards Claude. Jake recognized her and let her speak with him. "Hey Claude, it's me, Alex."

"Ah, good day to you. Jake told me all about you. I saw you during today's lesson and let me tell you, you were one of the best in the class."

"Well, let's just say I've had some _special_ training," she admitted, blushing. "Listen, do you think you could make time in your busy schedule to have me over for some… extra credit?"

Claude chuckled. "Alex, you know there are no grades or anything like that in this class. Unless you were taking it as a substitute for gym class or something."

"Nope, not the case. Just for love of the sport."

"With that dedication, I would love to have you over, Alex. Call me at this number­ –" he gave her his telephone number "– and I'll give you my address later. Right now, I'm looking at… Tuesday at three?"

"Can you make it four? I have soccer practice."

"With pleasure. I'll keep in touch. _Au revoir_… Alex," he dismissed her with a wave and a wink. As she went to meet her friends in the sauna, Alex felt that this could very well be the first in a series of some of the best days ever in her life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

June 7th, 2004

Compass Financial Group Headquarters, San Francisco

From his revolving chair, Thomas Maxim Cardinal stared out of the window in his office in downtown San Francisco. Thomas was an Irish-American in his fifties, with black hair that faded to gray down the sides. Officially, he was the CEO of the Compass Financial Group, a collection of several chains of banks that operated mostly along the west coast of America. However, on the east coast, he was known as the boss of the Compass Mob, a fearsome Irish mafia. Only today were the two roles about to spill into one another, all thanks to one visitor.

Morgana came into the office wearing a black skirt-suit, buttoned at the top by her treasured brooch. She knocked on the wall to the side of the door, prompting Thomas to turn around in his chair, and greeted, "Good day, mister Cardinal."

Thomas greeted her in return. "Morgana, a pleasant surprise! I've never seen you in person before, and you look so beautiful!"

Morgana couldn't help but blush at the compliment offered to her, coyly replying, "Oh, thank you." Regaining her composure, she went on. "All pleasantries aside, I have a proposition for you. First of all, I assume you have read the files about me and the Omega Order?"

"I have, and I must say… I'm not exactly convinced. If you are indeed who you say you are… you know, a psychic, I shall require some demonstration of your powers. Just a little one, anything will do."

"As you wish. Now, let me see… Would you happen to have any spoons lying around here?"

"No, not unless we could go to the coffee room–"

"That won't be necessary. How about a pen?"

"Yes, I have those." He started to pick one up off his desk.

"Stop, please, stay where you are." Extending her hand, Morgana whisked a random pen off the desk using only her powers of telekinesis. "Impressive, no? But that's only the beginning. Now watch," she said as she rolled up her sleeves and held up her empty hand to show that she was hiding nothing. Then, grasping the pen in her fist and raising it to face level, she closed her eyes and concentrated her powers. When she opened them, the pen started to bend by itself, all the way to a ninety-degree angle! With a final "Ta-da!" she threw the pen back onto the desk and received some heavy applause from Thomas.

"Without a doubt, you've impressed me, Morgana. But certainly your powers aren't limited to such parlor tricks, am I right?"

"Obviously. Why, I could kill you now without so much as a snap of my fingers." She then snapped her fingers just to scare him. "But it would be bad for business if I demonstrated that here and now, with no one _else_ around to volunteer. Speaking of which, I need to get down to business now. The Omega Order has experienced, shall we say, a loss of manpower as of recent. I propose that your Compass Mob join forces with us."

"Is this a good time to ask what's in it for us?"

"Psychics don't usually come this far into contact with regular humans – 'mortals', as we call them. But if you and your men would be willing to accept us for who we are, and cooperate with us, there are immense riches that we'd be willing to part with. Shall we go over the figures now?"

"Please," Thomas answered with great anticipation. "Would you care to sit down?"

"Thank you for the offer," Morgana graciously accepted, pulling a chair over from the wall using telekinesis. "For our first order of business, I need some help in netting some enemies of the Omega Order that I have been monitoring."

All of a sudden, Thomas's attention drifted to the bent pen lying on his table. "Excuse me, but would this be a bad time to ask if you could fix my pen?"

"Not at all, I'm sorry. Let me get that for you."

June 8th, 2004

Claude's Apartment, Santa Monica

As her multiple attempts at obtaining a drivers' license had all ended in complete failure, Alex had her friends drive her over to Claude's house for their date. She kept giving Sam directions until they arrived at the destination, which turned out to be a two-story apartment complex, like a motel with larger rooms and a pool out front, fenced off from all the non-residents. Claude's room was somewhere on the first level. Alex stood outside his door as she waved good-bye to her friends, and waited until they drove off before taking a deep breath and knocking on his door. His voice called out from inside, "_Entrez-vous_!" She was not expecting him to be speaking in French, so she assumed she misheard and did nothing. Soon he spoke again. "I said come in, silly!"

Alex did as she was told and, upon entering, first laid her eyes on Claude. He was in the middle of a butterfly stretch, his legs bent outwards on either side of him and his feet touching directly in front of his groin. Looking up at her, he greeted, "Ah, glad you could make it, Alex. And sorry for confusing you with the French."

"That, oh, that's no problem, really! The pleasure's all mine!"

"Just give me a moment to finish this stretch." Claude bent forward and held the stretch for thirty seconds as he explained, "Sometimes when I'm all alone, in the zone, you know, and someone comes knocking or something, my first instinct is to answer them in French. It's my first language and all, but I'm just as fluent in English too, so don't worry."

"That's a big help. Of course, a little French here and there doesn't hurt!"

"Indeed no," Claude grunted as he got up. It was only now that Alex could take a good look at what he was wearing. He had on the same outfit that he taught his class on Saturday in; only instead of shorts he wore blue swim briefs. These caught her eye most of all. She subtly pointed at them and commented, "Nice speedo. Seriously! It looks hot on you."

"At least you love them. A lot of people have made fun of me for wearing them. Must be an American thing. So, I hardly ever wear them while swimming anymore, just while training. It's a shame, 'cause I really love wearing them and, like you said, I've got the perfect body for them."

"Oh yeah, I mean, not just anybody can pull it off. But you, you're just so…" She cut herself off in mid-sentence and fell into a half-dream state, smitten by his sex appeal.

Claude shook Alex back to consciousness, taking the opportunity to observe what she was wearing: sweatpants and a tank top. "So, anyway," he asked. "In my call, I asked if you would dress warmly. Do you still have that leotard from Saturday or are you just going to train in those?"

"Oh no, Claude. I got something special just for you." She took off her outer clothes, revealing a sports bra and shorts in yellow with orange trim. An orange butterfly was printed on the front of her top, along with two orange stripes down each side of her shorts.

Now it was Claude's turn to fall into a partial daydream state. "That looks awesome, Alex," he said softly. "Now follow me."

He led her into his bedroom, where he folded his bed up into the wall and laid down two mats. However, the room felt hot to Alex. "Is it hot here," she asked, "or is it just us?"

They both laughed together, and then Claude explained, "I set the thermostat up to ninety degrees for our training today. Muscles stretch better once they've been warmed up, even literally. In fact, there's even a branch of yoga where people exercise in temperatures upwards of one hundred degrees! Then again, some experts prefer that you keep the heat down, since it's easier to breathe, and in that respect, I can't blame them. So, if the heat here is absolutely unbearable, just let me know and I can turn the thermostat down. But remember, no pain, no gain!"

"Aha, so that's why you wanted me to dress like this! Not just because you wanted to see me in… well, maybe that's part of it."

"In all honesty, yes, both are true. Now sit down, and I'll show you what we'll be working on. It's called 'the human knot.'" Alex sat cross-legged on one of the mats and watched Claude with undivided interest while he sat down and pulled his legs up and over behind his head, one at a time. Once he was finished, he leaned forward on his arms for support while Alex applauded profusely. At the same time, however, she realized the possibility that this might be too difficult for her to achieve. "Um, Claude…" she stammered, "What am I going to have to do to get into that? And won't I get stuck?"

"We'll mainly be doing frontbending exercises to achieve this. And don't worry; getting stuck isn't a real problem unless you go really far down your leg. Which I have achieved once or twice, without any problems, by the way. So, anyway, let's start by touching your toes."

Un-crossing her legs and extending them out in front of her, Alex was able to touch her toes on the first try. "So, how long do you want me to hold this?"

"Thirty seconds. Once we work up to a minute, we can go on." This felt like a very long thirty seconds to Alex, but soon the stretch was done. Alex took a breather, and then assumed the pose once more. This time, however, Claude pushed her back down to the floor, increasing the intensity of the stretch. After a few more repetitions, Alex was able to hold the stretch, with Claude pushing down on her, for a full minute. This routine went on for a number of different exercises, until finally, she was ready to attempt the knot.

At first, Alex could not achieve the knot without Claude pulling her into place, but when she did, it was a wondrous sensation that turned out not to be very painful at all. "I don't ever want to get out of this…" she sighed. However, Claude suggested that she do so and try to do it again herself. It took her some effort to bend her torso far enough forward so her feet would not slip out from behind her shoulder, but eventually she made it. Claude applauded her. "Thus ends the lesson for today, my student," he said with adoration.

"I've _got_ to show this to my friends. You think they're ready for it?"

"I'm not sure what they're capable of, but if you go through the training routine we did together, they can definitely do it."

"Why not just teach it in your class next time?"

"It's on the agenda, don't worry. However, the advantage with doing it one-on-one as opposed to a class setting is the coaching I gave you, and from the looks of things, it sure made a difference. In the meantime, can I interest you in a massage before you leave? Massages are very good for contortionists, as their muscles need to be calmed down after a performance or such."

"I would love that, Claude. You think I could get a shower, too?"

"Oh… sure, there's a bathroom down the hall."

"Thanks…" She pecked him with a kiss as she added, "…For everything." Once she left, Claude fell back on his mat and sighed with joy. It wasn't everyday that he could give a backrub to a hot girl such as Alex. He got up and did some handstand moves just to pass the time, when he heard a car pull up in front of his apartment. Was it her friends, here to pick her up already? He looked at the alarm clock on his night table. It was fifteen past five already. The time certainly flew with Alex…

Then another thought came to him. Wouldn't she have called her friends when she was ready to be picked up? Without a doubt. However, she had not done so. Instinctively, he rushed out to his front door and looked out at the car, which turned out not to belong to Alex's friends. Instead, it was a red coupe, and out of it came two burly men in suits, followed by a young woman in some sort of black skirt-suit…

Morgana had come to visit. And she certainly was not interested in flexibility training.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

May 26th, 2004

Shanghai Academy for the Performing Arts, Shanghai, China

Scared beyond his wits, Claude looked back on the situation and examined how he got into this mess in the first place. The trouble all started the previous month, while he was still attending the Shanghai Academy for the Performing Arts, developing his circus skills a world away in China. During the upcoming summer season, his class was set to put on a show and tour the country, but unfortunately he did not get picked to perform with the rest of his class. Dejected, he was about to visit his mother at her vineyard in southern France, when another opportunity sprung up for him.

In just a matter of weeks, a contortion class was to be given at a yoga studio in Los Angeles, except the original teacher was apparently out with an injury. Whoever sent Claude the e-mail had heard of his talents and offered to have him teach the class in the original teacher's stead. The e-mail contained links to plenty of material about the class, the curriculum, and its location, so he was sure of its authenticity. After a phone call to a provided number, he was officially penciled in for the job, and only days later was off to Los Angeles.

During the phone call, Claude was instructed to first report to a meeting room in the studio building. What he saw there immediately made him feel uneasy about the situation: seated in the room were Morgana, two bodyguards, and the class's original teacher, who for some reason seemed in perfect health. Morgana greeted him first. "Ah, hello, Professor Duchamp," she said, mockingly giving him the title of a teacher. Pointing an open hand towards the real teacher, she added, "There is much I must explain, but perhaps I should let Shirley over there begin. If you would introduce yourself, please?"

The woman stepped forward. Her medium-length, wavy red hair was held up, unlike Sam's, and her athletic, toned, yet shapely figure was at odds with her eternally stern expression. "I am Shirley, the teacher for the Power Yoga Chi-Kwon-Do classes held at this studio."

Claude snickered. "Well of course you are, but may I have your name?" Shirley did not seem the least bit amused, forcing Claude to rescind his joke. "Pardon me, I was just kidding, Madame Shirley. Although, I've never heard of… whatever it was you've been teaching before, so frankly I'm having a hard time believing your story."

"Oh, it's a real thing, alright. Let me demonstrate a few positions for you." With effortless speed, she knelt on one knee and twisted her body at the waist, her arms holding a forceful pose. "Long Tiger!" she exclaimed, which everyone assumed to be the name of this posture. Then she smoothly moved into a sitting position with her legs folded on top of one another, a common pose for meditation, which she called "Squatting Bear!". Finally, spreading her legs apart for her third and final position – "Skipping Goat!" – she planted her hands in between her legs, pushed up, and balanced on them.

As Shirley got up, Claude commented on what he observed. "Nope, I have never heard about what that practice is exactly. Although, I'm sure you're capable of much more, so you seem legit." In actuality he meant nothing of the sort, but he didn't want to anger his hosts, to put it vaguely, just yet. He wanted to wait and see what they wanted to have him do for them before he took any sort of action. "If you don't mind, Morgana, shall we get down to business?"

"I see no harm in that. You've been acquainted with Shirley well enough. Now then, all I want you to do is teach this new class in Shirley's place. That's all you have to do."

"Just for argument's same, why couldn't Shirley just do it herself?"

"Well, I was in the area, and when I heard of this new class I immediately thought of you. After all, this is your field of expertise, no?"

Claude nodded. "You've got me there. But does the same go for Madame Shirley over there?"

Shirley answered with a laugh. "Heh, it's more like the other way around. I'll have you know I run a really tight ship."

_If she has her way with her students,_ thought Claude, _they'll never learn the right way. I wouldn't want to let them down._ As he thought this, another question came to his head: "And what kinds of students are expected to attend?"

Shirley answered this question. "It's open to anyone really, but I'd expect plenty of hot young girls and guys about your age."

"I'm 21, you know."

"Okay, maybe a little younger."

"But just old enough for you to find them… quite attractive," added Morgana.

_No… you've got me there!_ Claude thought indignantly. _You figured out my weakness… how much I love the opposite sex…_ However, he hid any trace of his suspicions and answered, "Very well then, it seems there's no other way around this. I accept your offer, Morgana," he said with bravado, shaking Morgana's hand as she offered it.

Claude's Apartment, Santa Monica

June 8th, 2004

It was this handshake that led up to the events of this day. As soon as he identified his visitors, Claude wasted no time running towards the bathroom, picking up his street clothes along the way. He tried to shut the door as discreetly as possible, but Alex, still in the middle of her shower, screamed when she heard the door close. Claude hushed her up, however, and instructed her, "Listen, Alex, there's something I need to warn you about. It's serious, so _be quiet_. And don't worry, I didn't see anything," he added, noticing with dismay that the glass shower walls were so covered with drops of water that they distorted the image behind them. All the same, Claude turned away from the shower and put on the rest of his clothes as he gave a brief summary of his situation, hiding for the moment any motives that Alex would find incriminating.

"There are some really bad people who just came to visit me right now. Morgana's one of them." At that moment, Alex turned down the water in the shower in order to listen better. "I can't explain now, but it might involve you. You need to get out of here now. There's a small window in the corner here; climb up and out the first chance you get. Dry off," he told her, throwing a towel over the shower wall, "and just change into those gym clothes you were wearing."

"No… I have to help you!" protested Alex. The first time Claude mentioned the name Morgana, she instantly remembered that she was her mission, and that she had to spy on her and learn who she was working with and what, if anything, she was planning. In the interest of involving as few civilians as possible, she originally did not wish to reveal her mission to Claude. At this time, however, she debated internally as to whether or not it was now the proper time to tell him about her real purpose. All she could do at the moment was ask, "Um, has Jake told you anything about me?"

Claude stared blankly into space for a moment. "Yes, and I'm guessing that's a bad thing, so I'm hiding you for your sake." And with that, he went out and closed the door nonchalantly.

When Claude turned out of the hall into the den and kitchen, the first person he noticed was Morgana, her arms crossed and her expression unimpressed. "Good day… Claude. What kept you?"

"Ah, _pardonnez-moi_, I was just… I was changing, freshening up, you know… just finished a stretching session."

Claude's alibi seemed plausible enough for Morgana at the moment, so she simply got down to business then and there. "Listen, Claude, I came here to give you a… performance review. As you may have noticed, I am also one of the 'students' in your contortion class. Am I enjoying myself? Yes. At times, it can get quite uncomfortable –" she sensuously rubbed her hips for emphasis – "but I'm no slouch all the same. You agree with me that I'm good enough at it, right?"

Claude merely shrugged. "Sure. I mean, we've just started, but you're a promising young starlet."

"Oh, you really know how to flatter a girl."

Laughing for a moment, Claude responded, "Let's just say I've had lots of practice."

"…Right. Anyway, I've looked over the registry for your sessions and compiled a list of who I think your best students are. I'm going to read the top name on the list: Alex Vasquez." Although he did his best to hide it, Claude froze in shock upon hearing the name of the girl he was at that moment trying to hide. "I have to say, she is such an interesting girl. So, I'd like to tell you anything you know about her."

Claude was defiant, but kept his cool. "And what would that accomplish, Morgana?"

"Why, we could develop a training program that would cater to her specialized talents and truly help her bloom. Who knows, she could blossom so beautifully, that we could get her a gig somewhere! Think about it, Claude."

"Look, I told you already, it's too early on. I never got a chance to learn more about my students; my schedule's been really tight lately."

Morgana feigned a look of disappointment. "Oh, what a shame." Then, just as quickly, her expression turned around, and a smirk formed on her face. "It seems you're not the liar you thought you were." Claude went into shock once more as the two strongmen behind Morgana stepped forward. They both wore matching suits similar in color to Morgana's. One of them had short, curly, red hair; the other one wore a golfer's beret and sunglasses. "Claude, these are Angus and Charlie. They're some hired help I brought along with me to… help you tell the truth. I know you've got one of your friends here, and they're going to find her. Angus, you stick around and make sure Claude stays comfy. Charlie, I suggest you look in the bathroom." The redheaded man pinned Claude down to a chair by his shoulders as the other man headed out to search for Alex.

Unbeknownst to Morgana and her cronies, Alex kept the bathroom door open a crack as she dried off and put her clothes back on. She had recorded their entire conversation with Claude using her Compowder, a gadget provided to her and her friends when they first joined WOOHP. On the outside, it looked like – and served as – a pocket mirror, but it served many other functions, including a communicator. Once she sensed a break in the conversation, Alex immediately headed for the tiny window Claude had mentioned. Looking for a footstool to reach the window with, she upended an empty trash can, pushed the screen window open, and squirmed outside. Even though Claude's apartment was on the first floor, Alex was afraid of hitting her head on the ground eight feet below, so she kept holding onto the window ledge as she pulled her legs out, flipped around and landed on her feet. Finally out of danger – so she thought – she opened up her Compowder once more and called Jerry back at the WOOHP headquarters.

"Hello, Jerry? …Are you there?"

A different face appeared on the Compowder's screen than the one she was expecting – it was Jake. "Hey, Alex. You want Jerry? He's right here, Director 3 too. I'll put you on the speakers."

"Can everyone hear me? …Good, I have something to report. Morgana is here; she's interrogating Claude now and looking for me. I'll play their conversation now."

The transmission that Alex broadcast to everyone in Jerry's office was nothing short of unsettling. It seemed to them that Morgana was in charge of Claude for something. Jake was the first to break the silence that ensued. "It's a tough decision, Alex, but Claude can wait. If Morgana's around, she should be our first priority. How about you go out front and ID her car. I just need a description and the license plate number. If you do that, we can track it on our satellites."

Alex took a deep sigh. The thought of abandoning her crush for her mission was unsettling at first. However, she ultimately told Jake, "Will do," before running around the building, hiding behind a corner where she had a view of the parking lot. After a moment, Morgana walked out, accompanied by Claude, Angus, and Charlie, and she looked totally displeased at Charlie's failure to produce any results. They started to get into a red, two-door car, possibly a Honda or Acura. Alex leaned out and snapped a picture of the car with her Compowder, but was discovered by Charlie before she could lean back behind the corner.

Immediately when she saw Charlie give chase, Alex dashed back around the building with all her speed, but it was no use. Charlie tackled her down and, noticing her Compowder, smashed it onto the sidewalk. _Looks like WOOHP's going to have to track me the hard way,_ Alex thought as she was dragged her away by her arms into the red car. Luckily for her, they were doing just that.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Somewhere above the Rocky Mountains

Immediately after receiving Alex's emergency call, the team at WOOHP summoned Clover and Sam and began tracking the red car Alex had identified before she was captured. They followed it to a hangar in back of the Los Angeles International Airport. Within moments after a small corporate jet, officially belonging to the Compass Financial Group, took off, WOOHP sent its own aircraft to follow the plane from a safe distance.

On board the plane, Jake and Jerry were busy updating the two remaining spies on their mission. "Alex, Claude, and their captors took their car to LAX," explained Jake, "and left in a corporate jet registered to the Compass Financial Group. Jerry and I have been doing some research on them, and one fact seems to stick out like a sore thumb. Their CEO, a mister Thomas Maxim Cardinal, also has connections to an Irish mafia that operates in the eastern United States. As such, Compass Financial doesn't own any banks west of the Mississippi River. We don't know yet what all this has to do with Morgana and the Omega Order, however, but maybe you'll be able to pick something up during your encounter."

"Excuse me," asked Sam, "but you wouldn't happen to know where our encounter will take us, would you?"

"Actually, I have a friend who's hacking into the registry at LAX. I should hear from him soon." Suddenly, Jake heard something – it was Jerry clearing his throat. "If you'll excuse me, I think Jerry has something he'd like to show you."

"Yes indeed, master Langley. Now, spies, if you'd follow me to the back… You too, Jake." They all did as they were told, following Jerry into a sort of storeroom near the back of the plane. He had them all stand around a row of thick vertical tubes along the right-hand wall as he explained, "These are your new stealth suits. They were designed by Delta's engineers and, quite frankly, I'm sorry to say they've out-done us. For once."

These new stealth suits were primarily dark grey in color. Sam and Clover instantly recognized the tactical advantage these new suits had over their old, brightly-colored ones. However, to give the suits a sense of individuality, threads of different colors criss-crossed their surfaces: blue for Jake, red for Clover, green for Sam, and yellow for Alex – even though she might not get to wear hers for a while. Jake also noticed patches where the suits seemed to bulge out a little, such as the upper chest, arms, and legs. He pointed these out to Jerry, asking, "Is that Kevlar you've got under there?"

"Exactly. Now, go ahead and try them on. You can change behind those boxes over there," he instructed, pointing to the far corner of the storeroom. Once everyone had their new suits on, he asked Clover to step in front of Sam and Jake in order to demonstrate something. "First, turn around," he told her. "Now, does everyone notice these four small latches?" He pointed out these latches, which formed the shape of a tall rectangle on Clover's back, to Sam and Jake before picking up a small box and continuing with the demonstration. "Clover, if you would let me hook this on you…" He fastened the box onto Clover's back and then picked up what looked like a motorcycle helmet. "Now, put this on and we can get on to the good part."

Once Clover put the helmet on, Jerry smiled in anticipation. "Ladies and… gentleman, this is an invisibility suit. You power it on by flicking this switch at the top… Clover, would you do the honors?" She nodded and groped around in back of her for the power switch. When she found it and turned it to the on position, Sam and Jake gasped in unison as Clover practically vanished before their eyes! There was naught but a shimmer where her body had been!

Jerry seemed to take great pride in saying, "This little addition was our doing. It works by the use of tiny cameras, all over the suit and helmet, that record the image they see onto the opposite side of the suit. That's why you need the helmet as well; otherwise you'd just see a floating head, and that would never do. Because of the technology used, the effect isn't perfect, but to most people, you'll be as good as invisible. Clover, if you'd please take a little walk for me. Not too fast, though; it would disrupt the effect." Enjoying herself enormously, Clover strutted around like the supermodel she always wanted to be. Sam and Jake were just barely able to track her by following the shimmer effect, but were spared the sight of Clover embarrassing herself.

"While we're on the topic of gadgets," Jerry continued, "I trust you still have your Laser Lipsticks, charm bracelets, and Anti-Hypnosis Lenses." Sam nodded, and Clover's disembodied voice gave an acknowledgement. "Don't worry about the gloves; they've been built into the new suits. Oh, and Jake? Come over here for a second." He led Jake away from the girls and told him quietly, "I spoke with Director 3. He has decided not to grant you a license to kill for this mission, as it is just a short operation."

Jake seemed to take the news fairly well. "Understood, sir. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going up front. Wake me up when the enemy jet has landed." He started for the door, stopping to yawn and stretch his arms out to the sides, but one of his hands seemed to touch something squishy. It took him a while to figure it out, but he was holding on to Clover's invisible chest! Enraged at such perversion, she launched a surprise kick at Jake's stomach and took him down.

As he was reeling on the floor, a ringtone sounded that was unfamiliar to both Sam and Clover – it was coming from Jake's cell phone. "Sorry, Clover," he said before opening up his phone. "You might want to turn off the invisibility, though." Clover did as she was told and stood silently with an angry frown on her face as Jake talked with his caller. Once he closed his phone, he got up told everyone, "It was my friend. He says that plane is heading for Boston. I'm gonna go tell the pilot now."

Sam, Clover, and Jerry accompanied Jake to the seating area near the front of the plane and waited while he and the pilot spoke with each other. Soon afterwards, he reappeared and told everyone, "The pilot says that plane has been following a general course to Boston so far, so that intel I got should be correct. Either that or Chicago, or New York, or maybe even London, but we're far enough behind, so we can wait until they start to land. Until then, you might want to get a nap in. It'll be late when we get to the east coast."

June 9th, 2004

Morgana's House, Salem, Massachusetts

Jake was right. A flight of about six hours, plus a time difference of three more hours, meant that it was early the next morning when both planes landed at Logan International Airport in Boston, only fifteen minutes apart. The Compass Financial jet landed first and taxied into a hangar off to the south, where a white Lincoln limousine was waiting to pick up Morgana and her "guests". Sitting in the front passenger seat, on the other side of a divider, was none other than Thomas Maxim Cardinal. He addressed Alex and Claude in particular through a speaker system. "Good morning, friends. I trust you had a pleasant and restful flight." He did his best to act like a gracious host, but his sincerity was limited. Then, to Morgana, he asked, "Where shall we take our guests, milady? Your place or mine?"

"My house, please," answered Morgana. "I have something special set up there." Claude and Alex both guessed, with good reason, that this surprise would be greatly unpleasant."

"Sure thing, milady. Our driver knows how to get to both our homes. Expect a thirty-minute ride; probably less, given the time of night. Sit back and enjoy the ride." As the speakers clicked off, both Claude and Alex knew very well that there was no way they could do so.

A fifteen-mile drive to the north took them all to the town of Salem. Morgana's house was a large, old mansion hidden off into the woods. As Claude and Alex were led out of the limousine, they were immediately blindfolded by Angus and Charlie before going inside the house. Claude in particular felt something oddly symbolic about all this. He knew a little about the witch trials that were held in Massachusetts colonies in the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so it was ironic that she would choose to have her home here, as she was a psychic herself.

Eventually they came to the mansion's expansive basement. At this point, the blindfolds were removed from Claude and Alex's eyes, but when they saw what they awaited them, they both wished they could have kept them on. The basement was chock-full of antiquated torture devices! There were spikes and rust almost as far as the eye could see. _So_, thought Claude, _the irony has come full circle! No doubt we're both going to be on the business end of one of those things, but which…?_

"So," Morgana started off, "welcome to my home! I trust you find it pleasant, mister Cardinal?"

There was no hiding the disgust on Thomas's face. "The upstairs portion, at least," he said, trying his best to be polite.

"Oh, don't be _that_ polite for me, mister Cardinal. Perhaps that was the wrong question to ask." Morgana strolled over some sort of table, covered with a tarp, as she shifted her attention to Alex and Claude. "And now… something for our _special_ guests." She pulled the tarp off and was immediately met with gasps from everyone in the room – she had just uncovered a bed of nails! Even though she hadn't yet specifically described what was about to occur, the possibilities were very clear – and frightening.

Wishing to address everyone's concerns, Morgana ordered to Angus and Charlie, "Take the boy. Strap him down to that chair for me." Doing as they were told without hesitation, they shoved Claude into a wooden chair with a tall back and bound his wrists and ankles to the chair with tough plastic wire. At the same time, Morgana took control of Alex's body, lifting her a few inches above the floor and rendering her unable to move a muscle.

"My dear darling Alex," she said with a fake air of sweetness, "I have a few suspicions about you, and I'm going to get the truth from you… the old-fashioned way." Suddenly, Alex found herself hovering just barely an inch above the bed of nails. "You might feel something," she instructed, sugar-coating her every word. "The only way to make it stop is to tell me everything I ask you. The… _pressure_ will only increase if you resist. Oh, and Claude, as it seems you care for her, I would be happy to let you answer any of my questions. If you have a good enough answer, I will let your precious little Alex go just the same. So… let's start the fun!"

With a mere snap of Morgana's fingers, the psychic force keeping Alex suspended gave way, dropping her onto the spikes below her. The pain was only moderately sharp, but spread out all over her back and made her scream out in agony the moment she fell. The fact that she was wearing only her thin gym clothes, which showed a fair bit of skin, only made things worse. Despite her feeble attempts to get off the bed, Angus pinned her down while Charlie tied her hands and feet to poles on either end of the bed.

"Now," said Morgana, "let's start with a compliment, shall we? I've seen you at Claude's contortion class, and you are an agile little feline of a girl!"

Morgana's attempts at making Alex feel at ease were wasted, however. "Are you hitting on me or something!?" Alex asked indignantly.

"Heavens, no! I'm just saying that Claude is a lucky, lucky boy to have his eye set on you. Then again, I have a feeling, just a little inkling, that your last date with him was more than what it seemed. What did you really come to him for?"

Alex remained silent for a moment. If her friends were coming to save her at that moment, it would do to give them as much time as possible before her captors lost their patience or she told them too much. Morgana seemed to remain calm, however, but just as she got up to get something, Alex burst out a lie. "He was teaching me some special stretches to get ahead of the class. He sees a _lot_ of potential in me."

"My dear, I'm afraid I just don't believe you. That's why I've prepared this." Morgana laid a wide board over Alex's body, and then struggled to take a concrete block from a nearby pile and put it on the center of the board. Alex yelped as the thirty pounds of extra weight pinned her midsection down onto the nails below her. Apparently trying to speed up the process, Morgana guessed at her own question in order to give Alex some ideas. "Now I think you understand me. Tell me; perhaps were you there in order to learn something else from him… say, some kind of information?"

It took another concrete block – which Charlie graciously volunteered to handle – but Alex spat out an answer. "I wanted to find out about you!" she said spitefully.

"Just as I suspected," Morgana bluffed. "But I want to know… why? Are you working for someone?"

This could be the last straw – and so early in the game, too! If Alex squealed here, she would divulge the existence of WOOHP, as well as her ties to Delta, the organization that had fought the Omega Order for decades! But what if Morgana already knew and was just testing her? Alex said nothing, not wishing to take any chances at the moment. As another block was laid on top of her, she started to regret her decision, but still refused to cooperate.

Finally beginning to grow impatient, Morgana warned, "I'm not using my powers when I say this, but this is going to be a very long morning for you."

She could not have been more wrong.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Unbeknownst to Morgana and Thomas, a black Cadillac Escalade had followed them from a sizeable distance all the way to her house. It was being driven by Jake, Clover and Sam, who were well on their way to rescuing their friends. Once they reached the aging mansion, Jake made sure to come to a stop far enough away so the SUV wouldn't be heard from inside. As they gathered to the front of the house, Sam whispered, "Those new suits should do wonders for us; I can't even see ourselves!"

"Maybe so," reprimanded Jake, "but we can still be heard, so from now on speak only when necessary. Who knows who's patrolling this place? So let's step back a little and discuss our entry plan." After they all did as they were told, Jake continued speaking softly. "We need to find where they took the hostages –" Jake felt a little guilty talking about Claude and Alex so impersonally – "and get them out as swiftly as possible. Sam, you take the upper floors; Clover, ground floor and basement; I'll just go between the two zones. Also, your suit has an SOS beacon equipped. If you find them, press the inside of your left ring finger. Otherwise, just head out to the car when you're done."

Having received and understood their instructions, Sam and Clover nodded together, and then they went with Jake to the front door. Understandably, someone had locked it, but Sam stepped forward as if to say, "Step aside." Using her Laser Lipstick, she made an incision beside the doorknob, across the lock keeping the door in place. After making the cut, she opened the door very slowly and quietly, and then went into the house.

Before letting Clover in, Jake reminded her to have her invisibility suit ready. Taking a moment to head back to the car to get the invisibility unit and helmet, she came back, equipped the two items and switched the unit on. Once she had vanished from Jake's sight, he told her, "You'd better let me go in first. Good luck, agent." He tried to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, but apart from the fact that she was wearing a helmet, he was afraid of 'missing' again.

It took seven blocks and over two hundred pounds of pressure, but Morgana finally made Alex bleed out information, just like the spikes that had now punctured her skin. In between series of pained cries, she said, "Alright, alright! I've been sent by this thing called WOOHP!"

Morgana looked at Alex incredulously at first. It seemed as though she had never heard of WOOHP before, and thought she was just making up anything she could. But then she nodded gently and said, "Actually, yes, that name rings a bell. The World Organization Of Helping People, no?" Alex nodded wordlessly. "Well then, I assume you've heard of the Delta Defense Alliance, have you?" Alex shook her head, but Morgana was not convinced. She knew Alex was lying, and using telekinesis, levitated another concrete block onto the board covering her body. "I'm not stupid," she scolded, her impatience now evident from her tone of voice. "I know Delta annexed your little organization. Tell me, what's your objective?"

Once again, Alex said nothing. But before Morgana could put on another block, and bring the pressure crushing down on Alex's body to two hundred seventy pounds, she heard something from upstairs. It was the sound of the front door closing. Urgently, she ordered to Angus and Charlie, "Someone's here ­– for Alex, no doubt. Both of you, go up and check it out."

"And give us one of your guns," Thomas suggested. Morgana nodded and smiled slightly with admiration as Charlie tossed his handgun to Thomas.

"Good idea, mister Cardinal," Morgana commended. "And just to be safe, I'm going to padlock the basement door from our side. Just knock when you need to get back in – and I'll know if it's you or not." Angus and Charlie nodded in unison and went off together as Morgana taunted, "So… where were we? Are you ready for block number nine?"

While scouting around the upper floor, Sam came across what looked like an old bedroom. There was plenty of antique furniture, but the hardwood floor was dusty from disuse. That, combined with the curtains fluttering in the dark early-morning air made the room feel creepy. A porcelain doll lying on the tall single bed did not help matters.

Suddenly, Sam heard a set of footsteps coming up the nearby stairs. While hiding in the closet, listening carefully, she discovered that there were, in fact, two sets of steps – and they sounded too heavy to be coming from Clover or Jake. It had to be those two goons of Morgana's! Should she fight them, or trap them in the room to keep them out of her way? As confident as she was in her combat abilities, at first she thought about the latter being better, only to decide that a little of both methods would be best after all. As she worked out the details of her escape plan, she reviewed the gadgets she had at the moment that could help her. The first thing she thought of was her Multi-Function Charm Bracelet, namely, some exploding beads. Although she was unsure about the specifics of the minuscule bombs, she guessed that the blast would just be wide enough to do a little damage to Angus and Charlie but not her.

Without making a sound, Sam slid the closet door open a crack to find Angus and Charlie checking the room, appearing almost as cautious as she was. Then, judging her moments, she rolled one of the bombs out onto the floor and carefully closed the door. Angus and Charlie barely heard it shut, only a moment before the bomb at their feet exploded in a flash of intense light and sound. Strangely, there was no sign of fire damage; they must have been flashbangs that she had with her! _Whatever works_, she admitted to herself. _And no damage to the house; so much the better._ While Angus and Charlie were still stunned, she tore open the door again and rushed at them, completely catching them by surprise. They didn't even have a chance to see her face as she knocked them off their feet and dashed out the door.

Once Sam was safely out of the room, she looked for something to block the door with. Directly to her left was a hutch that housed a number of historical-looking knick-knacks. Two questions came to mind as she examined the hutch. The first: could she move it? She had to put all her weight against it, but yes, she managed to slide it in front of the door. The second question: would it be heavy enough to trap them? The answer to that was a little iffier. She decided to push the hutch a few inches away from the door, and lean it against the door on two legs. With the hutch's full weight now keeping Angus and Charlie trapped in the room, she made her way as far away from them as possible.

Meanwhile, Clover was searching every nook and cranny of the foyer downstairs. Both she and Jake just missed seeing Angus and Charlie on their way upstairs, but soon afterwards she found the basement door they came out of. It had been locked, unsurprisingly, but Clover was not fazed in the least. She simply pulled out her Laser Lipstick, thankful that she could still see it despite her invisible hands, and made a cut along the side of the door, severing the padlock's chain on the other side.

The sound of the padlock dropping onto the floor made its way downstairs and distracted Morgana from putting the ninth cinder block on top of Alex. "We might have company, Cardinal," Morgana said with faltering bravado. "Here, lend me your gun and I'll check it out."

"I think I should go," Thomas disagreed. That way you can continue with the interrogation. At least you've managed to move some of the blocks, even if you've never touched them."

Whether or not it was true, Morgana appeared impressed by his spontaneous reasoning. "Do you always think of things like that so quickly? Very well, you go ahead."

Clover counted her lucky stars that it was not Morgana who was investigating the noise she just made; Thomas had no psychic powers with which to see the invisible spy. As Thomas started to head up the stairs, Clover climbed up the wall at the top of the stairs with her Just-Sticky-Enough Gloves. Her muscles strained as she curled up in the corner between the wall and the ceiling, putting most of her strength into her legs to brace her up, but she managed to take up so little space to avoid having Thomas bump into her as he investigated the source of the distraction.

When Thomas saw the basement door hanging open, his eyes immediately fell onto the broken chain lying at the top of the stairs. The lock itself was still in one piece, but the chain was already in bad shape; it had rusted in a number of places, even where Clover didn't cut it with her laser. While the possibility of enemy intrusion was always there, he hypothesized that one of the rusted sections of the chain broke under the strain of the lock's weight. Secretly he was having second thoughts about joining forces with Morgana and the Omega Order, but now was not the time to bring that up. For the time being, he simply brought the lock and chain down to Morgana and told her, "This fell off the door. I'm guessing one of the links got too rusty and gave way."

Morgana appeared nonplussed. "…So that's it?" Thomas nodded, but she did not believe him. Grabbing one end of the chain and holding the broken link up to his face, she said, "Look at this cut. It's just too perfect to have broken simply by the chain's weight. We may have an intruder. Go find Angus and Charlie and tell them to be on high alert, if they aren't already."

Thomas bowed slightly and responded, "As you wish," before walking back up the stairs to search for his henchmen. Still lurking in the shadows of the stairwell, Clover waited until Thomas had passed under her before attempting to sneak downstairs. Carefully, she let her feet go of the wall, but her gloves stuck to the ceiling, no matter how hard she tried to shake them loose. Of course, the "Just-Sticky-Enough Gloves" were never exactly as sticky as the user wanted. However, she simply had to slide her fingers off the gloves to drop down to the floor, barely making a sound. Once she yanked her gloves off the ceiling – otherwise her hands would still show up when she tried to turn invisible – she snuck down, mentally preparing herself to rescue her friends.

Treading as carefully as she could, though unable to keep from stepping on her invisible feet once in a while, Clover made her way over to the side of Alex's torture bed, pressing the beacon trigger as Jake instructed her on earlier. If Morgana knew of her presence in the cellar, she seemed to take no note of it; she merely muttered, "I grow tired of distractions. No doubt whoever's causing them are from your organization. Did you tip them off?"

"What? No!" Alex protested.

"…You sure? Can't think of anything at all? They would have needed some help from you if they were to follow you all the way across the country. So, I'm going to ask you again, what did you do to tip us off? And don't keep me waiting for the right answer, I grow impatient easily."

Alex tried to sigh, although it was difficult with all the concrete blocks pushing down on her lungs, and admitted, "Okay, I remember taking a picture of your car and–"

Clover heard the whole thing, and had to act fast before Alex leaked anything more critical. She grasped the edge of the board that lay on top of Alex and pushed upwards. It took her quite a bit of effort, as she was attempting to move something several times her body weight, but eventually the blocks slid off the opposite side, one by one, freeing Alex. To add to the effect, she wailed like a ghost as she pulled the board off her friend. But this may have been a critical mistake – Morgana controlled one of the unused blocks with telekinesis and launched it at Clover, breaking the large board in half and smashing into the invisible spy's helmet. The suit's camouflage system immediately began to malfunction, squares of rapidly cycling colors becoming visible all over the shape of Clover's body, before Morgana flipped the invisibility unit's switch, again with her mind.

The jig was up for Clover. She pulled off her battered helmet, gasping for a few breaths of fresh air, and unplugged the invisibility unit from behind her back. Morgana smirked; perhaps the interrogation had not reached a dead end after all. She magically lifted Clover by her throat and rotated her to face Alex. "It appears as though this little girl has tried to rescue you. Do you know her?"

A new wave of courage washed over Alex with the rescue attempt; she defiantly asked, "What if I say 'no'?"

"Oh, I was just testing you! I've seen you together at Claude's contortion classes, with one other girl, too. I wonder where she could be. You," she said firmly to Clover, "Is anything else with you?"

Kicking her legs uselessly against the air under her, all Clover responded with was, "Ugh, let me go, you psychic _freak_!"

Morgana gasped as if offended. "Well…! You don't look like the kind of girl who can stand up to pressure as well as your friend. I suppose I could take you for a spin in the iron maiden!" She magically pushed Clover into an iron coffin with spikes on the inside of the lid. "You will tell me if anyone is assisting you in your little rescue operation," she ordered, "or I shall close the door here, and it'll be instant death for you, my dear! You're in the big leagues now; you should have known that before you tried to rescue your friends!"


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Above all the action of the interrogation downstairs, Thomas Cardinal was diligently searching the house for any sign of the intruders. He held his gun with both hands, pointed downwards, as he stalked across the dining room. The intruder was closer than he thought, however; Jake was hiding under the dining room table. A giant white tablecloth that draped over the table and almost touched the floor, apart from giving the room a spookier ambience, completely obscured him from the naked eye.

While lurking under the table, Jake suddenly felt a shaking feeling come over his hand. One of his allies had set off the beacon in her suit, triggering a silent vibrator and a small colored light on the suit's glove. The light shone red, corresponding with Clover's suit. More than likely, this meant that Clover had found the hostages, and there was also a chance that she had gotten into trouble while doing so. Whether or not the latter was true, Jake was set to take action.

Before heading down, Jake thought it was best to silence Thomas so he could not interfere with the rescue attempt. First, he had to think of a way to catch him by surprise. There were chairs lining the table that he was hiding under; this gave him an idea.

Planting his knees on the floor, he pushed one of the chairs into Thomas's path. The patrolling mob boss tripped on the chair and nearly fell on his face, but grabbed a hold of the chair to brace himself up. However, Jake gave the chair an extra push with his foot, causing Thomas to slip onto the floor. As he got out from under the table, he pressed his foot down on Thomas's back and told him to keep quiet. Then, noticing the gun, he pressed his other foot down on his hand, forcing him to drop the gun, and asked softly, "So… Thomas Cardinal, I presume? Nod or shake gently." Thomas nodded in response, and Jake answered, "Pleasure to meet you. Now, I need you to take me to your guests. Get up, slowly."

While Thomas obeyed the instructions given to him and stood up, Jake snatched the gun off the floor before his hostage had time to make a sudden move to get it. Feeling his own gun pressed on the back of his neck, Thomas began to chicken out and chose to give Jake directions instead. "You'll find them in the basement. There's a door near the entrance–"

"I want to take you there in person," Jake interrupted. Then, holding his hostage on the shoulder, they set off for the basement. On the way they met Sam, who had just escaped from the clutches of Angus and Charlie. She just barely caught Jake's eye as she flipped over the balcony railing with the greatest of ease. As soon as she landed on the ground floor, touching down with the fluidity of a cat, she saw Jake holding Thomas hostage and was shocked. "Jake, what are you doing!" she furiously whispered in his ear. "I thought you didn't have a license to kill!"

All Jake said in response was, "Just bear with me. And back me up." With that, he ordered Thomas to open the basement door and led him down the stairs.

The sights that greeted Jake when he came down into the basement shocked him to no end. Between Clover facing imminent death, Alex under non-lethal yet painful torture, and Claude possibly awaiting some torture of his own, he feared greatly for his friends, yet as Morgana nervously began to taunt him, he developed a plan of action. "Oh, Jake… you caught me by surprise, how nice of you to join… You came at the right time. See, I've been asking Alex here some questions, or at least I've been trying to; she's been very… uncooperative."

"Good for her."

"…Right. Well, I was hoping you could help me here. Answer my questions, without any fuss, and I'll let your friends go."

"I've got a better idea. How about you let them go in exchange for mister Cardinal here? Need I remind you, if you decline my offer, I'll have to take _him_ back to my headquarters for questioning, and he could undermine whatever alliance you two have."

"Please, Jake. You can't just trade one life for three. You can give Cardinal back if you like, and I will let you choose one of your friends to set free. That's my only offer."

Now Jake began to worry some more. "…Well, if you do that, I want you to make a promise to me, that the ones I choose to leave behind will be unharmed."

"I'm afraid I can't afford that assurance, dear Jake. If I have to press too hard for information, well, they brought it on themselves, really."

"Some fuzzy logic that is…" murmured Jake.

But Morgana heard what he said. "Come now, make your choice; my patience is growing weak."

This was a critical choice for Jake. Of all three of his friends, Claude seemed to be in the least danger. He knew the least about Delta's operations, and perhaps Morgana even wanted him for herself. Still, the bond he had with Claude was special… But there was no time to dwell on that now. He narrowed his choices down to Alex or Clover. Clover was in more immediate danger of getting killed, at least at the moment, but Alex might squeal out more information, as she had already been broken in. Either way, he could not stand to have the blood of a fellow agent on his hands. He chose to stall for time by saying absolutely nothing.

But Jake didn't need to make a decision after all – Sam cut the silence by walking down and interrupting, "Actually, we do have three people to trade."

Surprised, Jake shot her a look that said, _We do?_ Sam seemed to take no notice as she continued, "If you get a moment, take a look upstairs. I left your two goons locked in one of the bedrooms."

Morgana pondered over this new development for the briefest of moments, then reached out with her mind to confirm the whereabouts of Angus and Charlie. Satisfied with her search, she said to Sam, "It seems you are correct. Certainly you are cleverer than you look, but I don't know; you look pretty clever to me!" Morgana laughed at what she just said, but no one joined her.

Regaining her composure, she continued. "I'm afraid I cannot accept your offer, however. You see, I can get Angus and Charlie back any time, but you can't get your friends without first going through me. Oh, wait… you know, it just wouldn't be as fun if I killed them with my _own_ hands."

"I probably shouldn't ask," Jake commented, "but what do you mean?"

"First, I want you to give back mister Cardinal." Jake released his grip around Thomas's neck without a fuss. "Now, take his gun and shoot… let's say… Clover." Jake gasped, along with all of his allies, at the command given to him. "You heard me. Do it or all your friends die. Even the really hot one." She subtly gestured toward Claude, whom Jake assumed she wanted to keep as her love-pet, therefore making her threat seem more real. Still, he did nothing.

Morgana had had enough of being tested. She growled to herself and muttered, "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself…" With that, she raised and pointed her hand in Jake's direction as her eyes began to glow. She was trying to hypnotize him! Jake tried to struggle against the spell, but eventually he stopped, as if he had given in, and slowly pointed the gun in Clover's direction. But instead of pulling the trigger, he ejected the clip, pulled off the slider from the top of the gun, and tossed the three pieces on the floor behind him. The hypnosis spell had failed after all!

Jake had anticipated a hypnosis attempt; he was wearing the Anti-Hypnosis Contact Lenses provided to him by WOOHP. While Morgana was left speechless, Sam took the liberty of pulling one of the flashbang beads off her charm bracelet and covertly dropping it on the floor behind her. She covered her ears, pretending she was cradling her temples to help her think, and made a subtle nod at Jake to give him the hint.

At the last possible moment, too late for Morgana or anyone else to make a move, Sam and Jake dove forward at opposite angles. Just as they jumped off the ground, the stun bomb detonated in a flash of blinding light and booming sound. Although Jake had his eyes closed, shielding him from the flash of light, his ears were open to the loud bang, making him temporarily deaf. Everyone else in the room fell dizzy from having two of their senses impaired at the same time.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Sam ordered to Jake, "Come on, help me free Claude and Alex!" but Jake cupped his hand over his ear as a reminder that he was temporarily deprived of hearing. Sam smacked her face in frustration, then pulled out her Laser Lipstick and pointed in Alex's direction with it. Jake took the hint, grabbed the lipstick from Sam's hand, and set to work freeing Alex.

Meanwhile, Sam rushed over to Clover, still standing in the iron maiden, and shouted, "Can I borrow your laser lipstick?" Clover just barely heard her friend, and gave her the gadget. Then Sam helped her get away from the spiked coffin and set to work freeing Claude.

By the time Clover's vision returned, Jake was over by Alex's head, having finished cutting the plastic rope that tied Alex down onto her bed of nails. But there was still the problem of getting her off safely. Thinking quickly, Clover rushed over to the opposite end of the bed and grabbed her friend's feet. As soon as Jake realized what she was doing, he held Alex by the hands and helped lift her off the table. Just as her feet once again touched the ground, Sam finished cutting Claude free from his chair, and was urging everyone to get going.

By now, however, Morgana and Thomas were beginning to regain their senses. They scrambled onto their feet and made desperate dives at the escaping agents. Morgana managed to grab onto Jake, but he turned themselves around in mid-air, so he landed on top, and smashed his elbow into her forehead. She howled with pain, as psychics are very sensitive in the area of skin around their temples, and gave Jake a chance to break free of her.

Meanwhile, Thomas tried to grasp onto Alex's ankle, but just missed, as Alex flipped into a handspring to avoid his reach. Once again, she positioned her legs in mid-air for a catlike landing. But unlike her painful experience at the training center the week before, she landed firmly on the balls of her feet. Just for fun, she twisted at the waist and struck a pose reminiscent of a kung-fu stance. There was no time to threaten them with it, however, as she glanced at her allies leaving the room and rushed after them, shouting, "Wait for me!"

Try as they did, Morgana and Thomas were helpless to do anything as the escapees barged up and out the front door and into their getaway vehicle. Alex was still in pain from the torture she had just undergone, so everyone arranged themselves accordingly. Jake sat behind the wheel, with Sam taking the passenger seat beside him. Clover and Claude sat in the middle row, and Alex rested face down on the rear bench seat. Once everyone buckled up, Alex thanked everyone profusely. "Oh… I've never been so scared in my life! I never want to go back to that haunted house ever, ever again!"

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Jake consoled as he peeled out onto the road, desperate to get away from the 'haunted house' as quickly as possible.

Back at the 'haunted house', Thomas and Morgana stood in the foyer, fuming at their catch that got away, when they heard a thumping sound. They followed that sound up the stairs and discovered the hutch that Sam wedged in front of the door. Thomas struggled trying to move it away, but Morgana easily lifted it to its original spot against the wall using telekinesis. The moment Thomas opened the newly unblocked door, his goons nearly tumbled out of the door. They started spouting apologies immediately, but Morgana would have none of it. She waved her hand to silence them and said, "Simmer down, boys, it wasn't your fault. It appears we are dealing with a crafty bunch."

"I take it you had trouble with them too?" Angus rhetorically asked.

"You couldn't imagine. Don't forget, they stole our catch right from under _our_ noses."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better about us," Charlie explained as he took off his sunglasses, "we've got some tricks up _our_ sleeves as well. We were just trying to escape through the window when you rescued us."

"I see," responded Morgana. She noticed that they had taken off the bed sheets and tied them to one of the posts. Presumably, they were going to use the makeshift rope to safely shimmy out the window, and from there run around to the front door so they could help their bosses. To Thomas, she said, "If Angus and Charlie are any indication, this alliance of ours was a very good idea. But we're going to need to step up our game if we are to have any hope of keeping them out of our hair. With your assistance, I believe that I finally have the resources to do so for good."


	9. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

June 11th, 2004

Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica

A few days after the rescue in Massachusetts, Alex, Clover, and Sam once again found themselves hanging out along the beaches in Santa Monica. Since her return to Beverly Hills, Alex had initially shied out of the public eye, and wore less revealing clothing to cover up the spike scars she got during her torture (when asked about her change in wardrobe, she told people that she had "wicked bad tan lines"). But after only a couple of days, the scars healed, and Alex was once again willing to head out with her friends.

It was evening on the day before their next contortion class with Claude. As they sat on a bench along Ocean Avenue and shared a smoothie, they felt lucky that they lived in a place with an ocean to the west, so they could experience picturesque sunsets any day they wanted. While taking in this particular sunset, Alex could not stop raving about Claude, who she was more than excited to see the next day. In particular, she told him about the training date they had before they were captured.

"…And can you believe that pose he taught me how to do? It's actually really comfortable once you've practiced!"

"Yah, I know!" Clover interjected, finally growing annoyed at her friend's obsession. "You've already showed it to us, plus you've only been talking about him, like, _nonstop_ since we came back!"

Alex was indignant, even at her own best friend. "Well, in that case, why don't you try it?" she asked hotly.

"Alright, I will." As Clover attempted the knot, she bragged, "I'll have you know Sam and I have been training for it too, ever since you first showed it to us… Ah, here we go!" she added as she finally linked her legs behind her head.

Alex complimented her, and Sam joined in. But the praise didn't last long; before long, Mandy came up to the bench, her new boyfriend following closely behind. She looked at Clover with an expression of disgust plain on her face. "Um, _what_ are you doing, Clover?"

Sam answered for her friend. "I could say the same to you, David; what are you doing with _Mandy?_"

"Oh, and to answer your question, Mandy, It's called the knot."

But Mandy wasn't listening. "What-_ever_, like, gag me with a spoon, please! Come on, David, let's get away from these losers."

"Now you wait just a minute," David interjected. "I don't want to hang out with anyone so close-minded." To Clover, he added, "Because that is fantastic!"

Clover gasped in delight. "You really think so?"

"If I didn't, then why would I dump Mandy?"

The implications of what David just said crushed Mandy. She could do nothing but stare in shock as he went to help Clover out of her pose. "Let's blow this place," she suggested. "Feel like sharing a smoothie, just you and me?"

David eyed the smoothie she and her friends had just finished. "Do you have a second stomach for those things or something?"

Clover was offended a little by this, but merely said flatly, "Is that a yes or a no?"

"Uh, a yes."

"Then let's go!" she shouted, perking up immediately. "Catch'ya later, Sam, Alex," she added as she waved to her friends and went off with David. Sam and Alex were confused, as they had just been dumped to deal with Mandy. But certainly this would be way easier than having to fight off a psychic.


End file.
